Trine DirectSound3D on Windows 7 with and without ALchemy comparison

A short comparison of the game Trine that uses DirectSound3D on Windows 7 with and without ALchemy

You may need headphones for this demonstration.

Creative ALchemy Project FAQ

Why is Creative ALchemy necessary?

As part of a major re-architecture of the audio subsystem in Windows Vista™, Microsoft made the radical decision to remove the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) for DirectSound and DirectSound3D. The HAL is the layer that on previous Windows Operating Systems enabled an audio accelerator such as the Sound Blaster X-Fi to provide DirectSound3D applications with hardware-accelerated audio.

Creative ALchemy allows Sound Blaster X-Fi and Audigy owners to run their favorite DirectSound3D games on Windows Vista™ and experience them as the developers intended - with full hardware accelerated 3D Audio and EAX support. This is achieved by translating DirectSound3D calls into OpenAL calls.

Is this caused by a driver issue?

This is not a driver issue, and cannot be fixed with a simple driver update. The DirectSound Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) has been removed from the Windows Vista™ OS

I have Windows XP or 2000. Do I need Creative ALchemy?

No, Creative ALchemy is not necessary on these operating systems as the DirectSound HAL is present. It is for use with playing DirectSound3D games in Windows Vista.

I have a game that supports OpenAL. Do I need to use Creative ALchemy?

No, OpenAL has direct access to our hardware and does not require the ALchemy wrapper. For a complete list of OpenAL titles, go to http://www.openal.org/titles.html

Source: http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=28967

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• trine
• alchemy
• creative
• directsound3d
• ds3d
• openal
• frozenbyte
• video game
• directsound
• 3d
• direct
• sound

[soapkin]

@drion13 Just like any other game, here is a nice list, although not complete: connectDOTcreativelabsDOTcomSL­­ASHalchemySLASHListsSLASHGame­s­ SLASHAllItemsDOTaspx

[drion13]

how would you set up games from steam?

[soapkin]

@mitrooper Indeed, but at least it's better than nothing.

[mitrooper]

Alchemy still pales in comparison to native hardware EAX...The hardware EAX effects are so much more realistic and better sounding.